Lord Darkseid understands some of you worms may not be satisfied with your petty explanations of his greatness. That is why he has allowed these... contentious issues... to linger. Beware, for he may turn his attention to you... and there will be no longer doubt about what Darkseid ''is''.----

* AntiClimaxBoss: The ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' version of him is a much bigger threat when he's a disembodied spirit spreading malevolence amongst the people of the Earth. As soon as he gets a body by [[GrandTheftMe possessing]] [[spoiler: Lionel Luthor]], Clark very easily takes him down.* AwesomeEgo: Darkseid is very arrogant, and looks all the more {{Badass}} for it.* BadassDecay: First symbolically with ''Crisis On Infinite Earths'', where a villain who is basically Darkseid on a larger scale is introduced, kind of robbing him as his place as arch villain number one. Then after the crisis, when lone heroes, street level villains and a mindless monster with spiky bits sticking out of it are able to defeat him. This eventually lead to an AuthorsSavingThrow that every last appearance of Darkseid from that crisis to the distant sequel ''Infinite Crisis'' was just an avatar and that he was still as dangerous as ever. Also, he did help defeat the Antimoniter, so that wasn't as bad as it could have been either.* CantUnhearIt: If you've seen any of his appearances in the DCAU than you're most likely reading every word Darkseid utters in Michael Ironside's sonorous voice.* CompleteMonster:** He's the ultimate GodOfEvil in the DC Universe and the TropeCodifier for DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans. As the ruler of the world Apokolips, Darkseid subjects its denizens to hellish conditions with the overwhelming majority of the population ill-treated slaves. The other New Gods fare no better as Darkseid is all too willing to subject them to hideous tortures or obliteration should they fail him. Darkseid detests all that is good in the universe and seeks to extend his influence everywhere he can. During ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', Darkseid is dying, and so [[TakingYouWithMe as a final gesture]] wants to [[ApocalypseHow destroy the entire multiverse]] and [[OmnicidalManiac all life on it]]. He [[OffingTheOffspring murdered his heroic son]] Orion to permit himself to gain dominion over Earth. Once there, he enslaved the minds of everyone he could touch, turning them into savage parodies of themselves, intending to as he said "murder their souls and take them to hell without end." His ultimate motive is to use the Anti-Life Equation to [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill rob everybody of free will]] and turn them all into mindless zombies who worship him [[AGodAmI as a god]] while he tortures them eternally, [[ForTheEvulz just for fun]]. Just as bloodthirsty and monstrous as any of those who serve him, Darkseid combines urbane sophistication, limitless cruelty and insatiable drive for power, and is the one single villain that all the heroes despise and fear.** In WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries, he's the EvilOverlord of Apokolips and the UltimateEvil of the DCAnimatedUniverse, turned his home planet into a hellhole and seeks to do the same with Earth. He is a being utterly incapable of love or empathy for anyone. He handed over his adopted son, Scott Free, to be tortured and brainwashed by Granny Goodness, treated his loyal son, Kalibak, [[AbusiveParents like garbage]], and attempted to outright [[OffingTheOffspring kill his other son, Orion]] while joking about it. Darkseid is also fond of conducting ColdBloodedTorture and [[YouHaveFailedMe killing minions for failing him]], or even for [[DisproportionateRetribution questioning him]]. Over the course of ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' and ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', Darkseid tried to conquer earth no less than three times. The first time he’s defeated he compensated by personally murdering [[spoiler:Dan Turpin]] just to cause Superman pain. The second time, he brainwashed Superman into leading Darkseid’s armies against his adopted world, turning the Man of Steel into a pariah for years. His third and final attempt stems not for a desire for power, but solely to make Superman suffer. There’s a reason why Darkseid is one of the only villains [[TheCape Superman]] outright tries to kill.-->“I hope you appreciate, Kal-El, that everything that happens from this point is on your head. The skies will rain fire, the oceans will boil, the streets will run red with the blood of billions. Only then, after your last pitiful hope is extinguished, will I end your life.”** There's a reason that BATMAN, the living ThouShaltNotKill epitome, tried to kill him during Final Crisis. Here, ''his very presense was destroying the universe''.* EvilIsCool: He was easily the most popular character from JackKirby's ''ComicBook/NewGods'' metaseries, and he went on to become one of DC's most popular villains afterwards.* GameBreaker: His Omega Beam, which is nearly impossible to avoid or survive as long as he can see you. * LawfulEvil: Type 4, though with shades of Type 1 & 2 thrown in. Darkseid desires an ordered universe and has a twisted (and sometimes, optional) code of honor, but ultimately and above all he desires to eradicate TheEvilsOfFreeWill, happiness and goodness because he's a monumental [[{{Jerkass}} bastard]] and wants everyone everywhere to worship him as God, and to [[DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans suffer and die for his pleasure]]. Though he finds reality to be random and chaotic, he would never be content to allow someone ''else'' to be in charge of correcting that and he finds ideas like freedom, love and joy to be part of the problem, not to mention he could never live in a world where he couldn't make people as miserable as possible and hold ultimate power over their fates in his hands.* LoveToHate: A prime example of this, his fans agree that how appallingly evil he is a part of what makes him such an awesome villain.* MagnificentBastard: Almost all incarnations. Most notable in ''Smallville'' when he's only a disembodied spirit and still manipulates everyone effortlessly. There's a reason he chose Lionel Luthor as his final vessel.** His DCAU incarnation which has him brainwashing Superman to send him against Earth. If Superman finishes the job, then Earth is softened up enough for him to take over. If he doesn't succeed, then Superman will be feared and hated by the people of Earth who he had worked so hard to get the trust of.*** To top it off in that appearance? ''He succeeds''. And even when Superman goes to Apokolips and pummels Darkseid within an inch of his life, the defenseless Darkseid just calmly has his loyal followers carry him to safety. His last words to Superman sum it up best:-->"I am many things Kal-El. But here ''[[BadassBoast I AM GOD]]''"* MemeticLoser: During his severe VillainDecay he basically became a joke. But after ''Final Crisis'' [[MemeticBadass it went the opposite direction]] as he swiftly reclaimed his villain cred.* MemeticMutation: The sight of Darkseid [[http://darkseidchillingonacouch.tumblr.com/image/3923957402 chilling]] [[SlouchOfVillainy on your couch.]]* MoralEventHorizon: He never crossed it, he was ''created'' on the far side of the line.** In ''FinalCrisis'' Darkseid is the Moral Singularity. Literally, his fall to Earth creates a black hole of evil dense enough to drag down the entire multiverse with him.